A blog about home brewing beer. The highs, the lows and the hangovers.

Brew Day: Pinch Hit Belgian Pale Ale

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About this blog

By Jason Chalifour

I have been home brewing since 2012. In that time I've done extract, partial mash, all-grain, ales, lagers, ciders, and some of them were pretty good, if I do say so myself. A life-long North Shore resident, when I am not brewing (or drinking) beer
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I have been home brewing since 2012. In that time I've done extract, partial mash, all-grain, ales, lagers, ciders, and some of them were pretty good, if I do say so myself. A life-long North Shore resident, when I am not brewing (or drinking) beer I am obsessing over the Red Sox and the rest of the Boston teams. Find me on twitter (@JChalifour), Instagram (JChalifour) and Untappd (JChalifour).

One of the ways I save money is by planning my batches. If I plan out several beers in a row that use the same yeast, I can harvest yeast from the first beer and reuse it for my subsequent beers without having to buy more yeast. Once yeast is pitched it will multiply during fermentation. It is said that commercial brewers are primarily yeast farmers. As a homebrewer if you're going to harvest yeast it is important that the yeast was not stressed in a hoppy or boozy environment.

For my first run of Belgian beers I threw together an easy extract Belgian Pale ale recipe. For all the advantages of all-grain or BIAB brewing, there is something to be said for a shorter brew day. There's nothing wrong with even an experienced brewer doing an extract batch to save time or kick start the pipeline in a pinch. See what I did there!

This recipe only has a pound of Caramunich III malt that I'll steep in hot water before adding my extract and starting the boil. That's all I need to do to get the color and flavor from the specialty malt. I'm accordance with my tips for better extract brewing, I'll add one can before the boil and the second at the end. I was going to use all Pilsner extract but the two cans I had weren't quite enough to get the starting gravity were I wanted it. I had an extra half pound of Light Dry Malt Extract lying around so I threw that in to make sure I get the alcohol level I'm going for.

For hops I'll be using Sterling hops. I used them in the original Summer of '18 and my last American Pale Ale. Sterling is an American hop, but it has a European noble hop lineage. Whenever I've used them my beers came out great, but they tasted like a Belgian beer which wasn't exactly what I was going for. I am very interested to see what the flavor is in a beer that is supposed to be Belgian!

Pinch Hitter Belgian Pale Ale

Belgian Pale Ale

Extract (5.00 gal) ABV: 4.65 %

OG: 1.048 FG: 1.012 SG

IBUs: 25.2 IBUs Color: 9.6 SRM

1 lb - Caramunich III Malt

Steep prior to boil (12.3%) - 56.0 SRM

3 lb 4.8 oz - Pilsner Liquid Extract

Boil (40.7%) - 3.5 SRM

0.75 oz - Sterling

Boil 60 min (20.1 IBUs)

0.25 oz - Sterling

Boil 10 min (1.3 IBUs)

3 lb 4.8 oz - Pilsner Liquid Extract

8.0 oz - Light Dry Extract

Late extract addition (6.2%) - 8.0 SRM

Late extract addition: 10 min (40.7%) - 3.5 SRM

1 pkg - Belgian Ardennes

Wyeast Labs #3522

This is a pinch hitter I'm just hoping gets a solid single to start a rally or move some runners. I'm not expecting a home run here. I hope to have five gallons of solid, drinkable beer for late summer get togethers. If I still have some kicking around in early fall this beer won't be out of place either. On bottling day I'll save some of that yeast at the bottom of my fermenter to use in some more ambitious beers.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="461"] You can see how dark the wort is after steeping the Caramunich III and before adding the Pilsen extract.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="461"] This is an easy recipe without a ton of ingredients, perfect for a beginning brewer.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="461"] The wort is noticably ligher after adding the extract. Once the wort is topped off with water to get to our five gallons it should be the perfect color.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="461"] The extract flows out of the can more easily when it's warm. I keep the cans right next to the kettle.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="461"] Wyeast packages their yeast in a "smack pack" that works like a disposable ice pack you used in Little League or keep in a first-aid kit. Once activated the pouch blows up like this.[/caption]